Bop Design Advises on Why Websites Experience High Bounce Rates

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San Diego B2B marketing firm explains characteristics of a website that attribute to bounce rate percentage.

Website Bounce Rate

It’s the one piece of data from Google Analytics that still causes a lot of confusion.

San Diego, CA (PRWEB)March 31, 2014

Analytics and conversion tracking software provider KISSmetrics shared in 2010 that the average website bounce rate is 40.5 percent. The infographic continued to breakdown the average bounce rate based on website type, such as content, retail, landing pages or lead generation.

“It’s the one piece of data from Google Analytics that still causes a lot of confusion. If you don’t know, the very simplified definition of a bounce rate is the percentage of visitors that arrive on a page of your website and then leave, without browsing other pages. If you think about it, they literally bounce from your website to somewhere else on the Web,” explains Jeremy Durant, business principal of Bop Design.

Durant continues that depending on the website, a high bounce rate isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Here are some factors that contribute to an overall high bounce rate:

Landing Pages

If a website has conversion tools as a method of lead capture—such as newsletter signup pages, free trial downloads, coupons and more—then these pages will naturally have a high bounce rate. “The entire point of these pages is for an individual to complete a form, receive an item and go on their way. Hopefully you have steps in place to follow up with them and bring them back another time,” says Durant.

Blog Posts

Websites that feature a blog help attract new visitors and improve SEO. While most blogs have browsing tools to reduce bounce rates (e.g. related blogs links to read at the bottom of the blog posts), some visitors are simply interested in reading the piece of content, educating themselves and continuing on their way.

Traffic from Twitter

Many referral visits from social media result in higher bounce rates, but Durant notes that Twitter consistently outranks any other social media platform. “This is due to the nature of a Twitter user—short bites of content result in visitors who are only interested in gleaning the page they clicked on and then returning to Twitter,” says Durant.

High Organic Traffic

Oftentimes a website with a high percentage of organic traffic will experience a higher bounce rate, especially if a business is niche but could be categorized under a broader term. For example, a recruitment firm that only operates in specific industries or a consultant for specific business models. General keyword searches could still pull a website, resulting in an individual learning about the business niche, deciding they aren’t a good fit and leaving.

Mobile Visits

A website with a higher percentage of mobile visits can also experience a higher bounce rate, especially if a website isn’t responsive or mobile optimized. This is common as a mobile user is typically on the go or multitasking, meaning less time is spent browsing a website.

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Bop Design is a San Diego marketing and web design agency with offices also in Orange County, CA and the New York metro area. Specializing in B2B, Bop Design creates holistic marketing plans geared toward lead generation and business development. Bop Design offers services in branding, logo design, website design and development, responsive web design, SEO, PPC, social media and content marketing. http://www.bopdesign.com